The new Touch has a visible speaker grill on the bottom (to the left of the dock connector). On previous iPod Touches, the external audio simply came out the dock connector. Apple likely beefed up the speakerphone to enable FaceTime on the Touch.

The new Touch has once again been slimmed-down. Similar to the iPhone 4, the back of the Touch is now flat. Unlike the iPhone 4, the iPod Touch still features the same shiny stainless steel back that has graced every iPod Touch.

We paid $229 for our 8 GB Touch, which seems like a pretty good deal. A 32 GB Touch will set you back $299, and a 64 GB can be had for $399.

Bogus math: In dollars per gigabyte, the 8 GB Touch is a terrible deal: $28.63/GB. With the 64 GB Touch a gigabyte will only cost you $6.23.

Want bogus logic to go with our bogus math? BusinessWeek has a fallacious column up on how the iPod Touch costs $29 more than the iPhone 4.

That's right folks, at long last the iPod Touch has not one, but two cameras.

The front-facing camera is just like that of the iPhone 4, with support for VGA quality photos and video.

Unfortunately, the rear-facing camera is only 960x720 resolution. That's only about .7 megapixels, compared to 5 megapixels on the iPhone 4. It's likely that Apple had to sacrifice still photo resolution in order to squeeze the camera into the Touch's slim package.

There's a microphone hole next to the rear camera. Apple's updated the audio input and output prowess of the new Touch to enable it to play nice with FaceTime.

Like the iPhone 4, it appears that the front glass and LCD panel are permanently fused together. The good news is that this will prevent dust from getting beneath the glass, but unfortunately it will make repair more expensive.

There are two cables securing the display assembly to the logic board. One is easy to disconnect, but the other is more challenging. The thin black cable connects beneath the logic board. That means that replacing the display assembly will definitely not be trivial.

Like allotherrevisions of the iPod Touch, the battery is soldered to the logic board. This isn't a surprise given the slim form factor of the iPod, but we wish Apple would make battery replacement easier.

Fortunately, compared to the 3rd Generation Touch, Apple did add more space between the battery's three solder points (on the orange ribbon just to the left of the battery). This should make the soldering job a little easier when replacing the battery, as there's less chance of accidentally bridging the contacts.

Here's the headphone jack all by itself. Notice the liquid damage indicator on the bottom of the part.

The headphone jack is stamped with Foxconn. Foxconn has long been one of Apple's primary contract manufacturers and this part has one of the few indications that Apple doesn't actually manufacture the iPod.

It took a bit of prying to lift the battery and logic board out of the casing, but unfortunately the headphone/sleep button control ribbon cable is both soldered to the logic board and glued to the outer case.

After wrangling the logic board/battery/display assembly out of the rear panel, we can finally access the screws holding the volume button cover and the sleep button down.

After a good bit of anxiety-filled scraping with a metal spudger, the ribbon cable is finally free from the rear panel.

The control ribbon cable is bonded to the rear panel extremely well, especially near the volume buttons. Since the volume buttons have no structural bracket (just a steel cover) holding them to the rear panel, the adhesive bond must be strong enough to survive presses from the strongest of button pushers.

The display assembly of the Touch measures 2.93 mm thick. That is slightly thinner than the 3.05 mm iPhone 4 display, and 30% thicker than the 2.27 mm display on the new iPod Nano.

The retina display on the 4th generation Touch is rumored to be lacking IPS, differing from the display installed in the iPhone 4. A way to test the difference is to examine an identical image on both devices at an extreme viewing angle. As seen in the second picture, the Touch (bottom) loses a great deal of contrast when viewed from a low angle.

This antenna is presumably used for Wi-Fi reception and is situated near the front glass panel when the Touch is completely assembled. Its new location eliminates the need for the plastic "window" found on the 3rd generation Touch.

This iPod features the same A4 processor that's found in the iPad and iPhone 4. The Toshiba chip is very similar to the one which was present in the iPad in the FCC teardown, that was replaced by a Samsung one.

The key marking of interest on the A4 processor package is K4X2G643GE. This is identical to the marking found on the iPad processor, but different from the iPhone 4 processor. The iPad has 256 MB RAM, while the iPhone 4 features 512 MB. Unfortunately, this means that like the iPad, the new iPod Touch includes only 256 MB of RAM.

The NAND flash memory is now provided by Toshiba, not Samsung like that of the iPad.

Good question - we generally call the camera that is pointed toward you when you are looking at the LCD the front-facing camera. We generally call the back portion of most devices the rear case or rear bezel, thus the camera that is pointed toward the rear case/bezel is titled the rear-facing camera.

The copper tape on the back of the EMI shield is easily torn off. It doesn't seem to affect the unit but worth noting. When you lift the EMI shield lift it from the button end upwards, not from the side outwards to avoid tearing it.

Also, the camera shield plate which is attached to the top assembly neds to be replaced very carefuly to match the existing position otherwise when you come to reassemble the top you will not get a flush finish.

Finally, It is not neccessary to remove the whole logic board when replacing the LCD, you can remove the Camera screw, the WiFi screw and the right hand top logic board screw. Once they are removed the logic board will bend upwards about 8mm allowing you enough room to remove the old Digitizer connector and replacing the new one. It's rather fiddly but decidedly easier than removing the whole logic board.

Overall this is the hardest of the ipod touches to work on but still consdierably easier than disassembling the Nano range. Have Fun!

For anyone who is trying to take a 4. Generation iPod Touch produced 2012 late/2012, will have serious problems , as Apple did change the production towards glue and tape. They did especially tape the logic board onto the shield underside and if you are not aware of this, you definitely brake the flat cable connection between the volume buttons and the logic board. Also the volume button base plate is taped and NOT fixed with screws anymore. There are also more copper shields added to the device. The best would be, if iFixit does take apart the iPod Touch 4. Generation produced in 2012 and late/2012 as there are a lot less parts hold in place with screws. I would change the rating from difficult to extremely difficult.

Replaced the lcd/digitizer, and realized that I had torn the volume/power on flex cable in half. Then i found this website and actually found some good directions for teardown for this ipod touch. Since the flex cable was near the end portion of the teardown, i replaced the middle frame bezel because it had also cracked when my daughter broke the lcd screen. put back together and all worked like new.

About 7 dollars for the middle frame, 3 dollars for the flex cable and 35 dollars for the lcd/digitizer. The local store wanted 100$ plus parts to fix this. I found all parts on Amazon.

I would recommend putting a small piece of black electrical tape on the top side of the solder joint on the flex cable just to prevent shorting of the solder joint to the back of the lcd as a precaution. My soldering is not as good as factory. The key for this is to take your time. Took me about three hours.

I covered the updated aspects of the powerhouse entertainment and communications handheld device from Apple called the iPod touch. It plays music and video like you would expect from an iPod--but also runs games and many of a myriad of apps designed for iPhone--and now takes pix and records video. It still lacks capabilities like GPS. Read more: http://bestapplecases.com/best-beautiful...

I am wondering if it is possible to remove the surrounding black rubber bezel between the screen and metallic frame at the moment of step 6?, step 8 after the screws?, or is it needed to be done until the end when you have it in bare bones.

This happened to me as well. I've had to order a new part, you can get it from China for cheap. Tried to find the item in my mail history, not sure of the name anymore.

Anyway in the end all was fixed, had to solder it on though. Remove old part completely.very frickely job since the two connection points are so close together. You need a small soldering iron and thread. In my case the solder flowed together and I resorted to cutting it apart with a knif directly after.

Keep your patience, and be careful not to break the new part as well.. it will work.

So what;s that little silver circle in the bottom right corner? There was some speculation that that thing was a vibrate motor? Can you at iFixit find out what it is? Is it a vibrate motor, but disabled until future use? Like bluetooth for the iPod touch 2G?

In step 23 the person who was dismantling the iPod said they didnt know whats the white plastic thing for. To me it looks like an antena for wi-fi. It has built in metal dots and by the pictures it seems that it has conact with the ribbon which goes to the mobo.

Since currently the only mic is at the back of the ipod touch. Is it possible to add a 2nd microphone at the place of the weight saving device to make it more like a phone? what about adding a 2nd speaker? I head the speak on board is very weak.

I covered the updated aspects of the powerhouse entertainment and communications handheld device from Apple called the iPod touch. It plays music and video like you would expect from an iPod--but also runs games and many of a myriad of apps designed for iPhone--and now takes pix and records video. It still lacks capabilities like GPS. Read more: http://bestapplecases.com/best-beautiful...

It's time to speak out for your right to repair

Dear Minnesotans,

Right now, Minnesota has a chance to pass the first Fair Repair bill in the nation.
We have a chance to guarantee our right to repair electronics—like smartphones, computers, and even farm equipment.
We have a chance to help the environment and stand up for local repair jobs—the corner mom-and-pop repair shops that keep getting squeezed out by manufacturers.

We've been working with local repair companies, non-profit refurbishers, and tech-savvy politicians to come up with a solution. And they've done just that — Minnesota is the first state to consider a Fair Repair Bill.

If you agree with us, find out who represents you in the Minnesota House of Representatives.
Tell them you support the bipartisan Fair Repair Bill, HF 1048. Tell them that you believe repair
should be fair, affordable, and accessible.

It's time to speak out for your right to repair

Dear New Yorkers,

Right now, New York has a chance to pass the first Fair Repair bill in
the nation. We have a chance to guarantee our right to repair electronics—like
smartphones, computers, and even farm equipment. We have a chance to help
the environment and stand up for local repair jobs—the corner mom-and-pop
repair shops that keep getting squeezed out by manufacturers.